[Aguila Blanca]

Originally Posted by davidsog

I happen to agree with you but as gun owners we need a better response than:

In order to fight back.

Things like measurable metrics and facts. Not just parroting an opinion.

One might then ask, if there are 20,000 existing gun laws on the books (a number I see cited often, with no substantiation. Let's just go with it, for argument), how can one compile "measurable metrics" if 19,997 of those 20,000 laws are never enforced? The only way to come up with a meaningful (as opposed to measurable) metric would be to analyze every criminal act that involves a firearm against all potentially applicable state and federal firearms laws, and then compile statistics on how many laws were actually violated in the incident compared to how many violations were actually charged, prosecuted, and convicted. It would, I suspect, be a Herculean task, but that's the kind of statistics that are needed to demonstrate the folly of trying to solve every problem by just creating a new law rather than enforcing the laws already on the books.

This is a slight detour, but I'll cite it as an example: Many years ago, when I was still in my second marriage and living in a New England state that still had on the books a number of old "blue laws," a couple of nice, "New Age" young women who ran a New Age book shop in a small town decided to host a psychic fair. The local police saw the advertising and paid the young women a visit, warning that if they went ahead with the event they would be arrested. The problem was that there was a law on the books that said it was illegal to (a) advertise fortune-telling services, and (b) to "fraudulently" predict the future for money.

The psychic fair was cancelled. Meanwhile, in another town in the same state, a woman was arrested and prosecuted under this law. She did not advertise -- her business was a sideline, her clientele all came to her by word of mouth, and the police called her for an appointment in a sting operation; she didn't reach them by advertising. Two cops posing as a couple went to her home, had a reading, handed her some money ... and slapped the cuffs on her.

At trial, the prosecutor dutifully brought in both cops to testify that they had made an appointment, had gone to the house, had obtained a reading, and had paid money. Done. The prosecution rested. The judge called the defense, whereupon the defense attorney did NOT put on any defense. Instead, he moved for dismissal. Everyone in the room looked at him as if he was crazy. The judge asked why he should dismiss.

"Because, your Honor, the law under which my client is charged prohibits two things: advertising to tell the future, and fraudulently claiming to foretell the future for money. The prosecution has not presented any evidence that my client did either of these things. The officers' testimony established that there was no advertising. The prosecution made no attempt to demonstrate that anything my client did was fraudulent by intent. Therefore, I move to dismiss."

The judge considered this for about a minute, re-read the statute, and said, "Case dismissed."

In the next session of the legislature, that statute was repealed. Not "revised," but "repealed." In testimony during the hearing on the bill to repeal it, it was documented that the law had been on the books for eighty-eight (88) years, and the ONLY case in which it was taken to trial was the one that was dismissed because neither the police nor the prosecution even understood what it said.

How many of those existing 20,000 (or so) gun laws are like this? How many have been on the books since forever but have never even been used to charge someone? Or have been on the books forever and are routinely ignored by the police? I could cite examples of that, too, but this is a post, not a textbook, so I'll skip that.

How can we begin compiling a body of statistics showing how many existing gun laws are NOT enforced, even when they could be cited in incidents involving firearms?